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ARMED separatists have kidnapped at least 78 students and their principal from a Presbyterian school in Nkwen village in Cameroon’s unruly northwest region, a governor said on Monday.

The kidnapping took place on late Sunday near Bamenda, the capital of the troubled English-speaking region, according to Governor Deben Tchoffo.

A video purportedly of the kidnapped children has been released on social media via men who call themselves “Amba boys,” a reference to the state of Ambazonia that armed separatists are trying to establish in Cameroon’s Anglophone northwest and southwest regions.

Amba Boys militants in Cameroon

In the video, the kidnappers force several young male students to give their names and the names of their parents.

The children say they were kidnapped late Sunday by the armed men and they don’t know where they are being held. The men who identify themselves on the video as the kidnappers say they will only release the children when they achieve what they want.

“We shall only release you after the struggle. You will be going to school now here,” say the men.

The video could not be independently verified, but parents have said on social media that they recognise their children in the video.

media_cameraHundreds have been killed and kidnapped in the past year in Cameroon by separatist factions who feel marginalised by the French-speaking government and clash with civilians and military. Picture: AP Photo/Rodrigue Mbock

Hundreds have been killed in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions in the past year, where violence between armed separatists and the military has increased since a government crackdown against protesters in the northwest and southwest regions.

The demonstrators claim that as the English-speaking minority they are marginalised by the French-speaking government.

Violent separatists have since taken up arms to destabilise the Anglophone regions to win independence for the areas they want to declare a separate state, which they call Ambazonia. They have mounted attacks against civilians who do not support their cause.

media_cameraAfrica’s oldest president, Paul Biya, easily won a seventh term after a Constitutional Council that he appointed rejected all legal challenges to the election. But the country is becoming increasingly unstable. Picture: AP Photo/Rodrigue Mbock

There have been other kidnappings from schools in the region, but this is the largest number kidnapped at once. Armed separatists have even killed teachers who defied instructions to keep schools closed. They have torched at least a hundred schools and chased students and teachers from schools which they then take over as training grounds.

Last week separatist militants attacked workers on a state-run rubber plantation in southwestern Cameroon, chopping off their fingers because the men had defied an order to stay away from the farms.

media_cameraThe Cameroon government did away with presidential term limits, leading to protests and the rise of factions in the country. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

An American missionary also died in the northwest region around Bamenda when he was shot in the head amid fighting between armed separatists and soldiers.

The turmoil in Cameroon comes as President Paul Biya, who has led since 1982, easily won a seventh term last month in an election that the United States says was marked by irregularities.

The government did away with presidential term limits several years ago, part of a trend in Africa that has dismayed many.

Biya will be inaugurated on Tuesday, and many opposition supporters have said they will continue demonstrations until he leaves power.